Connecticut Humanities has announced that ten organizations in eight Connecticut communities will share more than $210,000 in grant money to support humanities-based programming. Each month, Connecticut Humanities distributes money allocated by the Connecticut State Legislature, through a highly competitive, merit-based application process. These grants support programs ranging from a summer poetry festival in Farmington to a look at the development of West Hartford's business district.

A grant of $50,000 was awarded to the Hill-Stead Museum of Farmington. The grant will help fund the Sunken Garden Poetry Festival, the museum's longest running public program. The Festival includes five evenings of poetry over the course of the summer. The performances begin with a prelude which gives the audience and the poet an opportunity for interaction, mutual learning, and reflection. The program will also feature readings by emerging local poets, a musical performance, and writing workshops. This year's roster includes U.S. Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera, Pulitzer Prize winner Heather McHugh, Ed Hirsch, Kwame Dawes, and U.S. Army Veteran Brian Turner.

The Noah Webster House & West Hartford Historical Society has been funded $4,990 to support the program, "West Hartford Business: Images of Suburban Development." This exhibit will examine the history of commerce in the town through a series of modern and historical images. More than 45 images and artifacts will be featured from May 25 to October 2.

The Simsbury Public Library has received a grant of $1,125 to fund a series of free events that examine the life, times, and impact of Gifford Pinchot and George McLean- two men who helped determine the landscape of the United States. Between June 4 and June 11, the Library will sponsor a lecture, a performance by James Foote portraying Teddy Roosevelt, a hike at McLean Game Refuge, and an architectural tour of the Simsbury 1820 House.

A grant of $24,999 was given to the Middlesex County Historical Society for the program, "A Vanished Port" - a long-term exhibition that will showcase the port system that had a far-reaching impact on the world today. The display will intertwine Middletown, the West Indies Trade, and the economic boom, with the suffering of enslaved workers and the slavery trade. "A Vanished Port" will be on display for two years, beginning September 8.

The New Haven International Festival of Arts & Ideas was granted $50,000 to fund 14 lectures and panel discussions focusing on social issues, such as the value of human labor, immigration, gender equality, and place and displacement. The 2016 Festival theme "Working On It" features engaging discussions and entertainment, reaffirming the Festival's goal that "Arts" performances and "Ideas" programs illuminate one another. The two-week long event opens June 10 and runs through June 25.

Other grant recipients include the Madison Historical Society, Mystic Seaport, Artspace, Florence Griswold Museum, and Jewish Community Center of greater New Haven.

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